One of the great embarrassments of psychiatry is that in distant decades they had articles blaming mothers for Schizophrenia. We now know this is clearly a fully neurological disease. And currently many mothers are the victims of the limited wisdom of our physicians and mental health workers. Specifically, they think mothers are trying to get attention by taking their children for test after test, and to one doctor after another, merely for attention and to meet their own emotional needs.
I am increasingly thinking that this might be like the death penalty. A person might believe it should exist and be used, but oppose the way it is currently being applied in those represented by useless lawyers and with possible corruption of evidence.
I know Munchausen by Proxy exists. I have rarely seen it. I have seen it. But in 95% of the cases, I have also seen it falsely used. Typically I find most physicians and mental health workers are so far off in diagnosing serious "mystery illnesses," that perhaps we should shelve this diagnosis in most patients for 5 years. Why? Because some hard to diagnose illnesses will take 5 years for common docs to catch up to the newer research.
Sample Illnesses Routinely Missed by "Mother Abusers"
- All Tick-Borne Infections
Many infectious disease doctors are excellent in handling the thousands of infections we can be hurt by. They are exceptional in acute and deadly infections. However, they are generally completely worthless on tick-borne illness such as Babesiosis, atypical Bartonella and Lyme disease that has gone untreated for years. Even a simple review of the published literature in the thousands of articles, largely never read, shows what I read, hear about or see that I feel can be caused by these infections: strokes, seizures, heart attacks, arthritis, personality changes, rages, depression with suicide and aneurisms. In all, over 500 problems can come from the "great imitator" Lyme -- and that is just one of many tick-borne infections. This site offers dozens of articles pointing out their reliance on junk labs that miss patients with multiple and certain clear bulls-eye rashes in the past year, and McDonalds type quickie wish full antibiotic treatment. The conservative CDC lists one of these, Lyme disease as the number one vector carried infection in the USA. It is very poorly reported by physicians for many reasons, so local health departments are only getting a fraction of cases. I actually think, based on the explosion of new Bartonella and Babesia species that Lyme may or may not be the most common infection in deer ticks. In any event, the notion of “Lyme disease” is a joke, because most folks have over one deer tick infection if they live in deer infested locations. In Pennsylvania, a top anti-physician state, a small town was interviewed with mail cards, and 45% of the households had “Lyme.” And I would think these were largely diagnoses made by clinical symptoms and junk labs. Further, perhaps the largest set of symptoms of Lyme are psychological and relational symptoms and very subtle. Most doctors and even mental health workers are not able to catch these symptoms, of it they see them they label them with fifty psychiatric labels. They confuse primary illness with secondary. The things they see are real, but secondary to the Lyme, not due to genetic abnormalities. - Indoor Toxic Mold
There are perhaps 100,000 molds outside. Most do not cause humans trouble. If you create a wet indoor building environment, you select a small number of indoor molds. Some make toxic chemicals on the outside and inside of their spores. These chemicals are very biologically active. I would estimate that only 1/10,000 physicians in the US are educated in the newest 2009 medicine to test for them in a facility and in the body. Mere antibody testing to a small sampling of possible troublesome molds is limited. The EPA reports 30% of USA structures has indoor mold. - Inflammation Ignorance
When I see the labs done by 99.9% of physicians I am very sad. They are worried the insurance company clerks will call them, and say they are “over using lab tests.” And they are also not trained in more aggressive prevention. One of the biggest holes in American medicine labs is inflammation system testing. This system has hundreds of chemicals and perhaps twelve inflammation systems. Most never check for even five of these spokes. Inflammation chemicals cause heart attacks and strokes by clots. They increase obesity. They increase all psychiatric symptoms. - Newer Hormones
We have found that the hormone, alpha Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone is involved in about twenty functions. It is not merely involved in the color of skin. It is related to memory, attention, stress coping, the pain system, reducing inflammation, energy, cardiac health, obesity and many other roles. Some feel there are 10-20 million MSH deficient people in the US. I think they may be right. The causes are many. Has your VIP or MSH ever been tested? It is a lab offered by many major labs like LabCorp, but requires a special kit to be ordered in for the techs. Quest does not need a special kit and has a fair test that is not as good as LabCorp’s. This is the position of R. Shoemaker, MD, and I believe he is dead on right on this single point. Alpha MSH or Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone has a LabCorp test code of 010421, and the kit is a Trasylol kit that may be ordered through the PIC system. The order number is 5541603601. The VIP test also needs the special tube at LabCorp and also is a protein with anti-inflammation properties. Both MSH and VIP are being made into drugs all over the world with apparent success. The best text on MSH is by Dr. Cone who seems to have been ignored by some when he is perhaps a top world expert. Thousands of articles exist on both these chemicals—this is not fad medicine. - Biotoxins
I will not go into much detail here, but let me merely say that a number of organisms make chemicals that undermine many aspects of human health. I mention many of them in my books with biochemist Gary Rosen, PhD on mold illness and remediation issues that are written to be clear. Another co-authored book, Mold Warriors, and in articles off this site, shows the vast majority of physicians know nothing about mycotoxins and so 99.9% of them would miss their effects on a child. Why? Perhaps because pharmaceutical corporations has controlled medical education. This topic has been discussed in detail for years.
The Current Status of The Major
Promoter of Munchausen by Proxy
US pediatricians and other health care workers better watch their gullible minds in terms of Munchausen by Proxy (MBP), because increasingly the thought leaders on Lyme and other blind-spot areas in medicine are being found to be wrong. And most are not very aware of these other areas mentioned above.
But also, the great promoter of this Munchausen by Proxy, Sir Roy Meadow, has been seriously discredited. In his native England, while his MBP testimony has put 258 mothers in jail. Some report Roy Meadow is about to lose his license in England. He has lost some major court battles. He has been the major cause of having good and passionate mother's falsely imprisoned in the UK for MBP. They are beginning to win back their freedom from jail. There is discussion of lawsuits being organized against him.
Amazingly, it is reported Sir Roy just returned from a speaking engagement before a pediatric society in California. He has lectured recently at a major Pediatric Conference in California on the subject of "How to diagnose Munchausen's by proxy." I would be surprised if they offered the opposing side to his talk. In other words, someone speaking for the innocent and good the good mothers abused by ignorant physicians and child care workers who were attacked in courts or even ended up in jail. The fact that pediatricians' seem to embrace this man's theories is one example that we may soon be having a wave of MBP attacks against caring mothers.
For more information consider: www.msbp.com
And a top-flight expert text, Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy Reconsidered, by Eric G. Mart, located at: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/097096000X/qid%3D1016129840/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F1/002-6627167-5336000
"One of the most pernicious and ill-founded theories to have gained currency in childcare and social services over the past 10 to 15 years" -- Lord Howe, shadow spokesperson for Health, House of Lords [www.msbp.com]
Written Respectfully for Tired Mother's Merely Trying to Love Their Ill Children.
Dr. J